Brick-machine.



J. J. PALMER.

BRIGK MACHINE.

APPLIQATION FILED Emma, 191s.

Patented Jan. 5, i915.

Z SHEETS-SHEET l.

Www@ J J. J. PALMER.

BRICK MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FBB. 28,1913.

Patented Jan. 5, 11915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 THE NGRRIS PErERs 1:0 PHOTO-Lindov wAsHlNmN, D. C

JOHN J'. PALMER, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MNNESLA4 BRICK-MACHINE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented dan. 5, 121115.

Application filed February 28, 1913. Serial No. 751,221.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN J. PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brick-Ma chines; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a machine of high capacity for making what is known as concrete bricks; and to such ends, generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

The improved brick machine includes a tamper of novel construction, a mold filling hopper of novel construction, and a novel relative arrangement of the said tamper and hopper in respect to each other and in respect to the brick forming molds of theV machine.

1n the accompanying drawings which illustrate the complete machine, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are views in side elevation showing the complete machine and illustrating different positions of certain of the parts; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine; Fig. 4 is a section taken approximately on the line :r4 .rt on Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a section taken approximately on the line :v5 x5 on Fig. 3, some parts being broken away.

rllhe mold box, presently to be described in detail, is supported by a suitable framework 1 having rigidly secured rearwardly projecting brackets 2 at its rear, and provided at one side with laterally projecting brackets 3. rlhe mold box, which is divided into a plurality of brick forming molds, is made up of a back plate 4, a sectional front plate 5, a sectional bottom plate 6 and partitions 7. The said back plate 4 is rigidly secured to the framework 1, and the partitions 7, at their rear ends, are rigidly secured to said back plate. The sections of the bottom plate 6 and the sections of the front plate 5 are rigidly connected together for common pivotal movements, to a tie bar 8, the ends of which are bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the lower ends of operating levers ,9

which, in turn, are rigidly secured to the ends of the rock shaft 10, journaled in suitable bearings 11 on the framework l. N ormally, the front ends of the partitions 7 project between the sections of the front plate 5, and the sections of the bottom plates 6 are movable between the partitions 7. Ilhe operating levers 9 are located outside of 4the ends of the mold box and outward of the sides of the frame 1, and their upper portions are bent so that they extend parallel to the bottom plate 6 and normally overlie the upper edges of the partitions 7 far enough to permit of the application of a suitable pallet board l2. At their free ends, the levers 9 are provided with outwardly projecting end pieces 13.

Located below the bottom plate 6 and journaled in the sides of the framework 1 is a rock shaft 14 having a depending cam arm 15 and upwardly projecting arms 16. The arms 16 are in number equal to the number of the sections of the bottom plate 6, and each thereof engages the under surface of a section of the said bottom plate. The arm 15 is connected by a rod 17 to a treadle or foot lever 1S, shown as secured to a shaft 19 ournaled in the rear side portions of the frame 1. A torsion spring 20 re-acts against the treadle 18 and the framework 1 (see Fig. 3) and exerts a force which lightly holds the treadle 18 in a raised position.

For delivering the concrete into the molds7 l provide a so-called charging hopper 21 y,

having at its lower end rigidlv secured brackets 22 hinged or pivoted by a shaft 23 to the laterally projecting brackets 3 al ready noted. At its upper end, this hopper 21 is opened, but that side which faces the y machine is made up of a pair of hinge plates 24 that afford a drop bottom when the hopper is turned downward into a horizontal position overlying the molds but spaced vertically above the same, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3. To normally hold the hinge plates or drop bottoms 24 in closed positions, best shown in Fig. 4, 1 provide a locking device, preferably constructed as follows:

The numeral 25 indicates a rock shaft provided with two cranks j ournaled in bearing brackets 26 rigidly secured to and projecting from the hopper 21 and provided at one end with an operating hand crank 27 and at its intermediate portion with a crank i28. The crank 28 is connected to the outer end of a rod 29 that works through the back of the hopper and at its inner end is connected to the free edges of the hinged plates 24 by a chain or iiexible connection 30. Normally, the crank 28 stands radially beyond a dead center (see Fig. 3) so that it locks the hinge plates 24 in their closed positions.

rlhe rearwardly projecting brackets 2 above described, support the tamping device. rlhis tamping device comprises a rock shaft 31 journaled in said brackets 2 and provided at its ends with rigidly secured upwardly projecting arms 32. Parallel bars 33 are pivoted at their lower ends to the upper ends of the arms 32 and short parallel bars 34 are pivotally mounted on the rock shaft 31 adjacent to but inward of the arms 32. A plurality of tamping heads 35 are pivotally connected to the extended parallel bars 33 and 34 by transverse shafts 36 and 37, respectively. The extreme ends of the bars 33 are connected by a rod 3S which affords a hand piece by means of which the tamping device is adapted to be operated. The bars 33 and 34 and the arms 32 and tamping heads 35 form a parallelogram, under movements of which the tamping heads will always be held in vertical positions. There is, of course, one tamping head 35 for each mold and the said tamping heads are designed to properly work within the cooperating molds.

To yieldingly hold the tamping device in a retracted or raised normal position, out of line of movement of the pivoted hopper 21, l preferably employ a pair of coiled springs 39 which are attached to the back plate 4 of the mold boX and to short depending ends 40 of the bars 34. The hopper 21 is yieldingly held in an upright position by one or more coiled springs 41 anchored to the framework 1 and to an arm 42- on the shaft 23, to which the brackets 22 of the said hopper are rigidly secured.

rlhe numeral 43 indicates stops on the brackets 3 which engage the brackets 22 and limit the downward pivotal movement of the hopper 24.

rllhe operation, brieiy summarized, is substantially as follows: The molds are ready to be filled when the parts are in the position shown by full lines on Figs. 1, 2, 3 and l4, but at which time, the pallet board 12 must, of course, be removed so as to leave the molds open. The hopper 21 will be filled with concrete while in an upright position, preferably from a conveyer or spout, not shown, but which would lead from a concrete miXer. lVhen the hopper has been properly filled, it is turned pivotally downward into a horizontal position, shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. There is sui'licient clearance above the tops of the molds to lpermit the hinged drop bottom sections 24 of the hopper to drop downward into vertical positions. rThis dropping of the said sections 23 is accomplished simply by throwing the crank 2S to the other side of its dead center and tiereby releasing the said hinge section so that the concrete will drop from the hopper by gravity into the molds, thereby filling all of the molds. As soon as the concrete is thus t1.ansi'erre l from the hopper into the molds, the en'iptied hopper is released, and, by the action of the springs 41, will be returned to its normal upright position. rThe hinged sides 24 being then again secured by turning the crank 28 back to its normal position, the hopper is again in condition for filling. As soon as the empty hopper is restored to its normal position, the operator, by taking hold of the end rod 3S, pulls the tamping heads down against the concrete of the molds and by several repeated blows, or pounding actions thereof, the concrete will be properly tamped in the molds. As soon as this is done, the tamping device is released and it will be restored to its retracted position by springs 39. Surplus sand being then struck oil from the molds, the pallet board 12 should be applied, as shown in Fig. 5. IThen by tapping on the treadle 1S, the arms 16 will be caused to simultaneously raise the bottom section G of the mold, with a pivotal action on the shaft 10, which causes the formed bricks, the pallet board, and the arms 9 to partake of a common initial, pivotal raising movement. rl`his initial pivotal movement is suiiicient to force the formed bricks partly from between the relatively fixed partition 7 and the completion of the said pivotal movement is aecomplished by taking hold of the handles 13 and thereby turning the said molds upside down or into -positions indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which position the pallet board 12 will 'rest on the arms 9 and the formed bricks will rest upon the said pallet board. `With this arrangement of the filling hopper and tamping device, it is evident that the said hopper may be filled while the tamping device is being used and that the said hopper and tamping device normally occupies positions, each entirely out of' line of movement of the other. Also, it is important that each of the said devices is autoimitically retracted or restored to normal position. rlhe springs which accomplish these functions also operate as counterpoising devices which prevent the hopper in the one instance and the tan'iping device in the other instance from dropping too violently when moved from their normal positions.

The complete machine designed as illustrated in the drawings of this application, has been put into actual use and found highly eliicient for the purposes had in view. The machine, in all respects is also easy to operate and bricks may be very rapidly made thereon. The so-called concrete bricks are, as is well known, usually made from sand and cement made damp, but not very wet, with water.

What l claim is:

1. rlhe combination with the framework and molds of a brick machine, of a charging hopper pivotally movable from an upright position into an approximately horizontal discharging position above said molds and having on its downturned side, hinged plates, a rock shaft movable with said hopper and having a crank, and a connection between said crank and the said hinged plates for holding the same normally closed, the said crank being movable slightly from one side of a dead center to normally lock said hinge plates.

2. The combination with the framework and molds of a brick machine, of a charging Copies of this patent may be obtained for five hin ge plates,

cents each, by addressing the hopper pivotally movable from an upright position into an approximately horizontal discharging position above said molds and having on its downturned side, hinged plates, a rock shaft movable with said hopper and having a crank, a connection between said crank and the said hinged plates for holding the same normally closed, the said crank being movable slightly from one side of a dead center to normally lock said the said crank being located at the intermediate portion of said rock shaft, and the said rock shaft at one end having an operating hand crank.

In testimony whereof l ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN J. PALMER.

Witnesses:

HARRY D. KILGORE, F. l). MERCHANT.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

